Election Commission nod awaited on lateral entry of joint secretaries

The nine officers inducted through lateral entry as joint secretaries in various ministries in the government of India may have to wait for clearance from the Election Commission (EC) to join their departments. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) is also expected to make similar checks with the EC before transferring or promoting other senior officers across departments.
The prudence that the government is exercising this time for even routine appointments is a contrast from the last general election in 2014. While there were no lateral entrants then, throughout April 2014 the DoPT issued a flurry of orders to transfer and promote officers to substantive posts, including those in the Prime Minister’s Office and the finance ministry. Given the higher public sensitivity to such appointments made during elections now, the DoPT is taking no chances this time.

On Friday, the Union Public Service Commission announced nine candidates recommended as lateral entrants to serve as joint secretaries in various economic ministries of the government.
These candidates will hold contractual posts within the government, unlike members of the permanent civil service. The process of advertising for the 10 posts (one has withdrawn his\her candidature close to the appointments) has drawn a lot of attention among the public and the media, with over 6,000 applications coming in. A UPSC source confirmed that the DoPT would issue the appointment orders of these officers to join their respective ministries. An EC source said there was no need for the government to vet appointments made through the UPSC. “Those appointments, including lateral entrants, come under the exempted category,” the source said. But, it is expected that the DoPT will route the files through Nirvachan Sadan.
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This prudence has coloured the DoPT’s approach for routine transfer and postings of officers too. Although the April to June period is the peak season for these orders to be issued by the government for its officers, the department has decided to be careful this year because of the model code of conduct (MCC). The MCC came into effect as soon as the schedule for the general election was announced. On Tuesday, the department issued a list of promotion orders for 35 officers in various government departments. They have been promoted to the post of additional secretaries from the rank of joint secretaries.
However, most of these officers have been retained at their same posts for now. A DoPT source said these officers would be available to be posted by the new government after the election. In 2014, the outgoing UPA government appointed over 20 officers to senior posts in various ministries without referring them to the EC.

BJP to gain in polls for 58 Rajya Sabha seats from 16 states on March 23

The Election Commission on Friday announced that polling for 58 Rajya Sabha seats, set to fall vacant in April, will take place on March 23. The counting of votes will also take place on the same day.
With barely a year left in the life of the current Lok Sabha, the changed Rajya Sabha numbers would have more of an impact in the first couple of years of the next Lok Sabha. Nearly a third of the members of the 245-seat Rajya Sabha retire every two years, and the changed numbers would determine the complexion of the House until April 2020.

The results will increase the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tally in the Rajya Sabha. But the BJP, along with its allies, and even friendly parties, like the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), would still lack the numbers to push through a constitutional amendment.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been calling for simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls. But the constitution needs to be amended for this.
A constitution amendment needs to be passed by a two-thirds majority.
Delivering the 15th DT Lakdawala Memorial Lecture on Friday, former president Pranab Mukherjee indicated simultaneous polls were impractical. He said the simultaneous election of assembly and Parliament would be difficult to hold, even by bringing an amendment to the Constitution.
The BJP currently has 58 members in the Rajya Sabha. It could add at least 15 seats to this tally in the March 23 elections. Most of its gains will come from Uttar Pradesh. But, the party will continue to be short of the majority mark of 123 seats in the 245-member Rajya Sabha.
The number of seats falling vacant are - Andhra Pradesh 3, Bihar 6, Chhattisgarh 1, Gujarat 4, Haryana 1, Himachal 1, Karnataka 4, Madhya Pradesh 5, Maharashtra 6, Telangana 3, Uttar Pradesh 10, Uttarakhand 1, West Bengal 5, Odisha 3, Rajasthan 3 and Jharkhand 2.
The BJP will gain in Uttar Pradesh, where it won a comprehensive election victory in March 2017, and also Uttarakhand. While the BJP performed poorly in the 2015 Bihar assembly polls, it is set to retain its seats in the state now that Janata Dal (United) is an ally.
The biggest loser of the Rajya Sabha elections would be the Samajwadi Party.